There are lots of reasons to not (fully) trust the NSA (and related agencies). They've done (and likely still do) some things I don't approve of -- I think most

There are lots of reasons to not (fully) trust the NSA (and related agencies). They've done (and likely still do) some things I don't approve of -- I think most of us could write a lengthy post about the details. At the same time though, we need to collaborate with things like the Information Assurance Directorate (IAD)[0] to secure national systems. There are dangerous weaknesses in the US computer systems, and while a lot of the research on securing systems is done by private groups, government agencies are really the only ones that can sustain the funding and act as coordinators between private and public interests (eg, it's costly to secure the electrical grid, but there's a public interest in having one secure against attack). So hopefully the past few years have scared the NSA on to a saner course of supporting national defense instead of undermining it. And hopefully we can meaningfully collaborate with them on defense while fighting them on issues of privacy. [0] - https://www.iad.gov/iad/index.cfm https://www.iad.gov/iad/index.cfm